


Interesting Times

by sabinelagrande



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Brothers, Episode: s01e18 Providence, F/M, Isolation, Long-Distance Relationship, Missing Scene, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-18
Updated: 2014-04-18
Packaged: 2018-01-19 19:47:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1481785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabinelagrande/pseuds/sabinelagrande
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a pretty eventful day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interesting Times

_Good morning, Agent Koenig._

Eric yawned, blinking awake. "Morning, Ashley."

Ashley didn't actually have a name, but then again, neither did Providence. Eric was, however, the king of this particular mountain, and the disembodied voice that kept him company sounded a little like the girl who'd lived next door to him in college, so he'd call her Ashley if he wanted. In a situation like this, you had to take your joy where you could find it.

_The local time is six thirty-five AM. The coffeemaker is operational and will complete its brewing cycle in approximately five minutes. Today's breakfast is wheat toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon._

"Is there still strawberry jelly?" Eric asked, throwing back the covers and climbing out of bed.

 _Checking supplies._ There was a brief pause. _There is one open sixteen-ounce container in the kitchen refrigerator and one sixteen-ounce container remaining in food storage._

"I keep telling you to call it the larder," Eric said, pulling the covers up and smoothing them flat. "That word is so much cooler. It makes me feel like a pioneer."

_There is one sixteen-ounce container remaining in the larder._

"See?" Eric said approvingly. "I knew you could do it."

One of the advantages of living alone was that there was never a shortage of hot water, though he was just now getting out of the habit of military-quick showers. Water was thankfully no problem, at least at this time of year. 

He brushed his teeth quickly; toothpaste, unfortunately, was one of the weird items they were severely understocked on, and having to use baking soda was even worse than it sounded.

After he was done in the bathroom, he got dressed. Technically speaking, Eric was on call twenty-four hours a day, but he was aware that no one was going to show up. He could just as easily sit around eating Cheerios in a pair of boxers with the SHIELD logo on them.

He wasn't going to, though. Every morning he got up and put on his suit, because he was more than that. He was a SHIELD agent. That meant something. Some days it felt like the only thing keeping him together. He would wake up. He would put his suit on. He would guard Providence for one more day.

Breakfast was decent, considering all of it had very recently been in the deep freeze. Calling whatever this substance was by the name "eggs" was rather generous, but it'd do. He'd certainly eaten worse. 

He was barely through his second cup of coffee when Ashley spoke. _Incoming video call from-_ Ashley's voice cut out, replaced by his own. "Nikesha Edwards."

"Tell her I'm on my way," Eric said, standing up from the table. Ashley never had learned to pronounce Nikesha's name right; Eric suspected she was jealous.

The video conference room was dismal even by the standards of a super-secret base. When he'd gotten there, the room had been nothing but an eight-by-eight foot cell of whitewashed cinder block, absolutely nothing in it to clue in any viewer as to Providence's location. It got so depressing that Eric found a piece of fabric and taped it up on the wall facing the camera, anything to break up the monotony a little.

"Hey, baby," Eric said, as he slid into his seat. "This is a surprise."

Nikesha smiled, wide and beautiful, and Eric felt the same feeling he had every time, incredibly pleased and contented by the fact that she even wanted anything to do with him, mixed with the pain he felt from not being able to jump through the screen and join her. "A good surprise, I hope."

"You have to ask?" he said, smiling back at her, aware it made him look goofy, but hopefully a little adorable. The impact of adorable on girls was underappreciated.

She smiled again; she wasn't as good at adorable. Sweet and incredibly hot was more her speed. "I had a minute before work, so I thought I'd call and say hi," she said. At the time he'd been disappointed that she'd been recruited by the FBI and not SHIELD, but right now he couldn't be happier about it.

"You are more than welcome to call," he told her. "Even if you only have a minute."

She didn't say anything for a moment, just looked at him fondly; Eric was aware that they were probably that sickeningly cute couple that everybody knew, and he was _so_ okay with it.

Slowly, her face changed. "So, hey," she said, with a look that said she knew he'd be unhappy about what she was going to say next. "I looked for you when the SHIELD records went public-"

He sighed, alternately glad she wasn't breaking up with him and frustrated at what she'd done. "Nik, we agreed-"

"But I didn't find you," she finished. "Come on, Eric, you knew I'd look for you if I had the chance."

He sighed in relief. Having her know too much- having _anyone_ know too much- put all of them in danger. It wasn't that he didn't trust Fury, but it was nice to know he'd kept his word. "They scrubbed me out when they sent me here."

"That's probably better," she said reluctantly. "If you were out right now-" She let the sentence hang.

"Hey," he said softly. "It's okay. It's not forever."

That was possibly a lie; Eric had no real way of knowing, but it was better for everybody if he pretended he did.

"I know," she said, which was definitely a lie. "I really do need to go now. I just wanted to tell you hi and that I love you."

"Love you too," Eric said, smiling. "Talk to you soon."

Nikesha smiled at him again, then ended the call. Eric sat back in his chair, sighing. Long distance continued to suck, but if the alternative was not having Nik in his life, then he'd deal.

His breakfast was of course cold by the time he got back to it, so he called it a loss and moved on. It was just about time for his morning rounds anyway. 

There really wasn't all that much to investigate. The facility could only house twenty agents maximum, only maybe twelve comfortably; then again, this was SHIELD, and if there was a big enough emergency, they'd make it standing room only. 

Nothing had changed overnight. Communications were still working; well, the internet was up, which was about all they had left. His hardline to Fury was compromised, so he'd disabled that, along with the line to Fury's office at the Triskelion. The Hub seemed okay for now, though, so he'd kept the tap he was using to monitor it. That just left the one handheld comm that only interfaced with Fury's personal line. It was a little daunting, being even more isolated than usual, but anyone who needed to find him knew where he was. They could always knock.

The general state of the building itself was mostly fine. There was, as he'd suspected, a small leak in one of the water lines, but it barely took twenty minutes to fix. Some days he really wished for something bigger; he tried to push that thought out of his head whenever it popped up. They were already living in interesting times.

Confident the base was in good order, he got online, checking his email; nothing interesting. He read his webcomics, but not much had updated. This was the traditional time of day when he got sad they'd sunset City of Heroes, and it happened as usual. He was on the point of resorting to jigsaw puzzles when a new instant message popped up.

 **kingkoenig** : time for a little COD?

He frowned.

 **e_sharp27** : I told you, I'm not playing with you while you skip class.  
 **kingkoenig** : nah prof canceled lets go  
 **e_sharp27** : Be on in five.  
 **kingkoenig** : aight cool

He and Jake played for a few hours; Jake was having a great day and Eric was having a particularly shitty one, which was the opposite of what you wanted when you were playing with your little brother. Eric finally quit after a few hours, when it was time for his lunch and Jake's afternoon philosophy class. 

Ashley hadn't announced a menu, which generally meant she was leaving him to fend for himself. There wasn't much in the fridge- that was by design, minimizing every chance for food waste- but he managed to pull together a pretty decent sandwich. 

He settled in to eat, his ereader in front of him. He was still on a historical fiction kick, but this week he was feeling Renaissance. Ever since Assassin's Creed, people had been writing ripoffs with lots of spy plots in Venice, but despite their lack of imagination, some of them were actually pretty good. 

He was barely halfway through his sandwich when light on the ceiling started flashing, a warning tone sounding. Eric sighed, standing up from the table. It was probably nothing, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to investigate. He looked longingly at his sandwich; for some reason, Eric couldn't seem to get through a meal today without interruptions.

 _Contact alert._ He looked up in alarm. _Contact alert. Six unidentified human subjects. Vocal identification as follows:_

"Phil Coulson, agent of SHIELD."

"Shit," Eric said, grabbing his jacket. Fury had given him a short list of agents who were likely to eventually need Providence; Agent Coulson had been second, right under Commander Hill. "Scan other subjects."

 _Running facial recognition._ Ashley paused, taking longer than Eric was happy about, long enough to worry him; he hurried towards the entrance anyway, adjusting his badge. _No information in SHIELD database. Running crosscheck with mainframe. Identified: Agent Melinda May, Level 7. Agent Antoine Triplett, Level 6. Agent Jemma Simmons, Level 5. Agent Leopold Fitz, Level 5. Agent Skye, Level 1._

He frowned. "Additional names for Agent Skye?"

_No records found._

Who got to be a SHIELD agent with only one name? She was going to have to work extra hard for her lanyard. 

"Do not delete any records at next backup," he ordered, as a precaution. Too much was going on; who knew what else would disappear? "At next backup, move current data to secondary server and lock. Override tango charlie six bravo."

_Confirmed._

He checked the security cameras before walking down the hallway to the entrance. They showed him just what Ashley had reported, which was exactly as expected. He trusted Ashley above anyone else. She'd never steer him wrong.

He stood in front of the entrance, collecting himself for a moment before opening the door. This had already been an eventful day. Looked like it was about to get a whole lot more interesting.


End file.
